How Much Money Have The 'Idols' Made??

[Jaffas85]

How much money do you reckon the following 'Idols' have managed to earn since leaving the show and embraking on their careers:

Kelly Clarkson?

Ruben Studdard?

Clay Aiken?

Tamyra Gray?

Kimberley Locke?

Fantasia?

Thanks.

[britrocks16]

I would say Kelly or Clay have made the most.

[Ragin]

Kelly is probably starting to make some real money, Clay too.

It takes a while, and I don't think they end up with very good deals.

Any endorsement deals are probably making any of them more money than their music.

[Sleepless]

I am definitely no expert when it comes to information about finances, but I have picked up some random pieces of information around the Internet that would lead me to think Kelly and Clay are the only ones who have made some serious money, with the possibility that Ruben has as well.

I believe that the artists don't make very much money from CD sales (most of that goes to the record company), so Clay might not have made as much money as his album sales would lead you to believe. However, he has gone on tour several times and sold merchandise at each (I think, not sure), so he has probably made some money through touring and at least a little through album/single sales.

Kelly has most likely made the most because she gets royalties from her songs being played on the radio due to songwriting credits ("Miss Independent", "The Trouble With Love Is", and coming up, "Behind These Hazel Eyes" and "Because of You"), money from tours, and album sales. She was also featured in Candies advertisements, and most likely made a good amount of money there.


Again, I can't reiterate enough that I don't really know what I'm talking about.

[irice22]

What about Josh Gracin? Haven't his songs been doing quite well on country radio?

[Sleepless]

irice22 said:

What about Josh Gracin? Haven't his songs been doing quite well on country radio?

You're right, his first song peaked at #4 on country radio I believe and his second single is still rising. He has made some money as well most likely, although his album sales were a little less impressive than Clay or Kelly, and he isn't getting songwriting royalties from his singles.

[jdanton2]

Tamyra has done alright even though her cd did not sell too well she did cowrite all but one song plus she cowrote the best selling single of 2004. Her tv acting roles in "Boston Public",Half and Half",Tru Calling,What I like About You" .2 Idol Tours as well as Bombay Dreams on broadway . Tamyra has shown the vesatility of her talent and will most likely continue with singing,songwriting and acting jobs in the future.

[I love David and Theo]

jdanton2 said:

Tamyra has done alright even though her cd did not sell too well she did cowrite all but one song plus she cowrote the best selling single of 2004. Her tv acting roles in "Boston Public",Half and Half",Tru Calling,What I  like About You" .2 Idol Tours as well as Bombay Dreams  on broadway . Tamyra has shown the vesatility of her talent and will most likely continue with singing,songwriting and acting jobs in the future. 

Tamyra has clearly made the most. The idols get paid like $5000 per Idol show and make practically nothing on CD sales.

[automyskin89]

Hot said:

Tamyra has clearly made the most.  The idols get paid like $5000 per Idol show and make practically nothing on CD sales. 

I don't think Taymra has, I think Kelly/Clay has the most....no1 else is really big right now? Fantasia is sorta medium big

[Ragin]

Hot said:

Tamyra has clearly made the most.  The idols get paid like $5000 per Idol show and make practically nothing on CD sales. 

clearly? Where do you get your information from?, because I really don't think it is that clear.

[Luckie Starchild]

Hot said:

Tamyra has clearly made the most.  The idols get paid like $5000 per Idol show and make practically nothing on CD sales. 

What about other merchandise?

[Love Plastic Love]

Doesnt Clay get 100K PER SHOW
Plus the ungodly amounts of merch he pushes (trust me, Clay fans eat it up )

[WhySoSerious?]

It's either Kelly or Clay for making the most.

I'd imagine they all have ridiculously low artist royalty rates, so songwriting and touring are probably more lucrative.

[Pink Champagne Ricochet]

Ruben Studdard has said he makes $2 off each sale of his gospel album. He wrote some songs on it, though.

Kelly had made money from the radio play of MI but none from Breakaway, because it only goes to those credited to songwriters.

I heard that Clay's guarantee is actually up to $125K per concert now, plus sometimes he gets a percentage of profits above that figure. He's spent the last year touring his ass off, which is where a lot of the real cash comes in.

[jeb]

Simon Fuller and Simon Cowell...Oh wait, you wanted to know how much the people that are actually working their asses off are making!!!!
I would think Kelly because of song writing and indorsments not to mention international sales. Then it would be Clay. Just a guess.

[kellydicted]

I would guess that only Kelly and Clay are multimillionares

[43dudleyvillas]

I think Clay has earned the most (by a generous margin), and that Kelly has made good money, as well.  Ruben should be doing decently, too, and Fantasia is just getting started.  Basically, it comes down to who has toured most, and most successfully.

Clay's performance fee was $100K in January 2004, when Kelly's was $75K -- Clay's has since increased to $125-$150K.  He had 50 tour dates this summer with a minimum guarantee of $100K per date -- that's at least $5 million right there.  He also had 22 tour dates this holiday season -- let's say he got $125K per date -- that's another $2.75 million.  The Kelly/Clay combination during the Independent Tour went for $150K, if I'm not mistaken -- I don't know if the money was split 50-50, or in proportion to Clay and Kelly's respective guarantees at the time.  But let's assume a 50-50 split -- with 30 dates, they earned $4.5 million total, so $2.25 million apiece. 

So, excluding merchandise, that's $10 million from touring alone for Clay in 2004.  Of course, that excludes the managers' cut, and all the other personnel expenses.  After expenses, an artist would be doing well if s/he pocketed 25-30% of the concert ticket gross (the superstars can pocket 35%).  The Buena Vista Home Entertainment and McDonald's sponsorships obviously took care of some tour expenses, so I don't know how that impacted Clay's take-home from the tour.  So let's say that Clay took in $2.5-$3 million for tour ticket sales alone.  Kelly toured once, and that was with a co-headliner, for which she pocketed between $530K to $640K from ticket sales (actually, it's probably  more -- perhaps around $700-$750K, because she and Clay split expenses), and around the same for merch.  So that's $1.2-$1.4 million pocketed by Kelly from touring. 

I would be surprised if the income Clay generated from merchandising this year were less than $5 million, but the artist's take-home is around half that, so let's say he pocketed at least $2.5 million off merch this year.  So that's at least $4.5-5 million for Clay from touring -- probably more. 

Clay also received a 7-figure advance for his book -- let's say that was $1 million.  Kelly had her Candies endorsement (which has since lapsed, if I'm not mistaken), and she also had a one-off ad with Tresemme, no?  Both Kelly and Clay have received advances for two albums at this point, and, of course, royalties from their first (and possibly also from the commercial single releases).  But I agree with everyone who has suggested that their royalty rates are likely terrible.  Wouldn't surprise me if the artist royalty rate were as low as $0.50 per album.  And remember that they don't receive royalties until their advances get recouped.  Kelly presumably also made a bit of money via publishing royalties, but here, too, I would be surprised if her royalty rate were that high to start (and even if it is, I'm sure her management at 19 is taking a big cut).  Clay presumably got paid for his TV special, and he served as an Executive Producer on the show, which presumably earned him more money. 

All told, between advances, royalties, touring, etc., Clay has probably pocketed at least $7-8 million (at least $4.5-$5 million from touring, at least $1 million for his book, probably $1-$2 million for album advances/royalties).  I could be overestimating what he has made from the two albums and two singles, but, I left out what he was paid for his TV special.  As for Kelly, between $1.2-$1.4 million from touring (maybe throw in another $100-$200K pocketed from the mini-tour of 2003), some unknown sum of money from Candies, and, let's say, $1.5-$2 million from album advances/royalties (again, I may well be overestimating here, because the figure seems pretty high -- but I'm counting the Breakaway advance), she has probably made $3.0-$3.8 million.

As for Ruben, when he started out, his performance fee was $35-$50K, but it is now listed as $30K.  He has probably had about 30 tour dates this year total, 20 at the higher rate and 10 at the lower rate.  From touring, that would mean between $288K and $345K (assuming that he takes home 25-30%), plus whatever Ruben made from merch sales.  He also received advances for Soulful and I Need An Angel.  He has also been booked for a couple of corporate performances, if I'm not mistaken, so that probably earned him some money.  With all that in mind, I would say he has probably made around $2 million?  I don't know.

Kim Locke's performance fee is $10-$20K -- her tour had about 10-15 dates, but it probably didn't make her too much money.  She has also performed at a few corporate gigs, she received an advance for her album, and she has done a ton of radio shows -- even if she didn't receive much money from those, I assume she received some kind of appearance fee.  Her income probably totals to less than a million.

As for Fantasia, I don't know what her performance fee is, but she has obviously done a corporate gig or two, and her MAC endorsement is surely pocketing her some money, on top of her album advance.  Even at this early stage, though, I have to think she has pocketed at least $1 million.

[Pink Champagne Ricochet]

All the AI winners recieved a $1 million advance. I don't know if that was just "free" money or used to make their debut albums, but both Ruben and Fantasia bought houses with theirs. Clay's contract is unknown. He had the opportunity to negotiate, but he was pretty much the "runner-up" when he was signed, so who knows how much it was. Kim Locke's contract probably isn't that lucrative.
Clay probably got some sort of payment for doing the "Proud of YOur Boy" song on the Aladdin DVD. He is most likely recieving no royalties whatsoever from worldwide sales, but his recieving a flat fee is likely. Wouldn't the Xmas special DVD sales give him more royalties b/c he's also listed as an exec. producer?

Kelly might make up to $1 per album sold, since she has cowriting credits on both...still crappy, but most likely better than the others. AFAIK, Clay and Fantasia don't have any thus far, and Ruben didn't have any on his first album.

Fantasia is also a spokesperson for American Rag (clothing line), so that's another endorsement in her corner.

[Jaffas85]

43dudleyvillas,

So your saying that Clay earned 8 million and Kelly earned about 3 million in 2004 alone through a combination of touring, album sales and such?

[PT08]

I don't think Kelly's hurting for the dough. Her recent automobile perchase had a starting price of $75,000 and it's known she's bought two others since AI. She's also about to make her 3rd real estate purchase in California so she will be having homes in both California and Texas.


Clay is more than likely raking in the dough though. His touring was ridiculous this year, he had a Christmas album that sold a million copies on top of his regular album sales, he wrote a book, he got rid of 19 Management, He had a Christmas special, heck he even had his face plastered on a Christmas Ornament. The only thing he doesn't having going for him is kickbacks from radio. If he says jump the Claymates will jump which is the part that scares me. If you don't think this guy is taking advantage of his fans then think again. The guy did a Christmas tour after already doing 2 tours this year. How much money can you drain from your fans pockets?

[43dudleyvillas]

<sigh>
::counts seconds until this thread turns into another war between AI fanbases::

I don't think Clay's touring was "ridiculous."  He performed just over 100 concert dates in the span of 9 months, which isn't unusual, especially not for a new artist.  I know Maroon 5 has had a decidedly different career trajectory, but the band has toured practically non-stop, in different-sized venues, for the past 3 years (I stopped counting after over 200 dates in the span of one year).  John Mayer, too, is an artist whose path to success was very different, but he performed over 120 concert dates from February through December 2002, in venues of different sizes, and kept touring after he recorded his next album the following year.  In all 3 cases, the different tours covered different markets. 

Specifically, in Clay's case, there was little overlap between his 30-date tour with Kelly (which was all major metropolitan markets) and his 50-date summer tour (which was all secondary markets).  His current tour returned to major metropolitan markets, but catered to a somewhat different audience.

And I'm sure I'm going to get arguments about how the same 5,000 people attended all 100 shows this year.  I think that exaggerates to the point of absurdity the number of online fans who attend multiple shows.  But, I'm certainly not going to dissuade those who think otherwise with stories of my group of one-concert-attending friends.  They think I'm weird for having attended two this year, one in March and one in December.  But I was one of those who was really psyched to see Kelly.  :)

Kelly should do great this year.  She has, what, two tours planned, one solo and one co-headlining?  I'll bet that if the solo tour does great, it'll get picked up again in secondary markets later on this year.  Wouldn't surprise me if Kelly changed up the sets between tours, just to keep things fresh for herself and for her fans.

ETA: Jaffas85, I was trying to estimate earnings since 2003. Clay made the bulk of the $7-$8 million I estimated for him in 2004 (incidentally, others have estimated Clay's earnings at $8-$10 million), less the advance he received for his first album, and any royalties/flat fee he received from his first commercial single. Kelly obviously got her Candies money before 2004, as well as her advance for Thankful in 2002/2003. Her major income sources in 2004 were what she made from the Independent Tour and her advance for Breakaway.